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Nice to meet you!

Hi! I’m Donovan and I want to welcome you to my site The Mezzofanti Guild.

In case you’re new here and weren’t sure, this site is all about language learning. More specifically, it’s about proven strategies to learn languages better and faster.

I’ve been here now for about 5 years and have helped millions of people worldwide achieve their goal of learning another language.

I want us to get to know each other so I’m going to share with you a little about who I am and I hope you’ll introduce yourself in the comment section below too.

I love getting to know my readers and visitors!

I’m from Australia and I’ve been travelling the world now for over 14 years, learning many different languages at home and abroad using a variety of approaches and tools.

I know what works and what doesn’t because I’ve been the guinea pig for just about every method and learning style you can think of in just about every situation you can imagine.

I hope and believe that what I’ve learned will help you achieve your language goals.

My story with languages…

I was only able to speak one language up until my early twenties: English.

Like most people though, I had to study a language in school (5 years of Mandarin Chinese).

I say “had to” because it was one of those things that I had no interest in as a kid and I resented my parents for making me do it!

I wish I could say that it turned me into a bilingual English/Chinese speaker but even though it gave me a solid foundation in Chinese and my first ever exposure to foreign language study, I had nothing to show for it at the end.

Five wasted years of language study (or so I thought!).

After school, I went to college and did my undergraduate degree in Theology. It was here that I realized for the first time just how fun and exciting languages actually are.

I opted to do a few years of Greek and Hebrew.

As I grappled with new grammatical terms and worked out my own learning strategies (learning through failure after failure), these languages really came alive to me.

During this time, I was also introduced to Arabic (MSA, then Levantine, Iraqi and finally Egyptian), and by getting plugged into the local Arab community back home it became the first language after English that I became truly fluent in.

Me when I was 18 doing my first language immersion in a small village called El-Fashn in Egypt.

Playing with cobras in Aswan, Egypt recently. 🙂

I’ve stuck with Arabic ever since and have lived in the Middle East many times over the years.

With the exception of Spanish, I’ve travelled to and done language immersion in all of those places, documenting much of it here on this site.

A few years ago, I finished my Masters in Applied Linguistics where I was able to spend time researching how people learn their first and second languages. This really solidified a lot of what I had already learned through experience but it also opened my eyes to so much more.

Language immersion in South Korea.

Irish Gaeltacht immersion in Donegal, Ireland.

Some of my language missions have caught the attention of the media too including BBC News (here and here).

My goal is to attempt to learn a new language every year.

What I do when I’m not learning languages or travelling

First of all (most importantly), I’m a happily married guy and I spend every spare moment I get with my wife:

On our recent revisit to South Korea (I took her back to where we met for Valentine’s Day).

We met during my language immersion in South Korea on a beach in Busan, went our separate ways and then reconnected again in the Middle East (!). We got married a year ago and we’re currently based in California for a little while.

For me, doing language learning together is a new and exciting challenge.

I’ve always been a solo traveller which has had some enormous benefits in terms of being totally flexible with my availability (I also previously became fluent in two languages by dating women (1, 2) who couldn’t speak English!).

But I’m finding now that marriage is opening a whole lot of new doors for us – especially in places like the Middle East where families and married couples are able to befriend and socialize in ways that singles can’t.

I’m also an entrepreneur of sorts and run various web projects which is how I make a living (some related to languages and some not).

A big part of this is helping people understand how to excel at branding, blogging and social media.

Here are just a few random facts about me:

My faith in Christ is my reason for being.

I’m a health and fitness fanatic. I spend 6 days a week training at the gym and I’m always looking for new ways to improve myself physically.

My ultimate downtime activity is fishing. Nothing relaxes me more than to turn off technology and park my butt beside a body of water with a fishing rod.

Favourite food: Indian curry.

Favourite desserts: Sherry trifle and rhubarb pie.

Favourite book: Credo by Melvyn Bragg (an historical romance fiction set in Ireland/Scotland during the Dark Ages – one book I can’t put down).

Favourite city in the world: Cork, Ireland (most of my family originates from here too :)).

Least liked city in the world: Paris, France (sorry Parisians!).

Most desired travel location: Samiland (northern Scandinavia).

Some languages I’d like to learn soon: an Australian or American aboriginal language, Maori, Assyrian and Lithuanian.

So what’s your story?

Now you’ve gotten to know me a little better.

I’d like to know you better!

What’s your story?

Did you come here because you’re learning a language?

Do you already speak a foreign language?

Post YOUR story below. I’d love to know more about you!

Can you help me with something? Support me by clicking one of these buttons (thanks):

I totally love that the first random fact about you is your faith in Christ. I recently left a well-paid corporate job to figure out what I wanted to be when I grow up. There is no job lined up and I have no idea what the future holds for me. It is my faith in Christ that keeps me steady to know that everything will turn out ok. Through him, I’m finding my life’s purpose, which always comes back to writing. It’s what I’ve known since I was twelve years old. However, along the way, I let myself be defined by other people’s standards. No worries though; I’m back on track! Your blog is truly an inspiration to what I can achieve.

It was only by chance I came across your site after I saw your job posting for a blogging position. What a dream job – traveling and writing! While my husband and I have not had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in another culture, we really want to experience more international travel. We recently returned from 10 days in Nicaragua and we are dreaming of returning and opening up a business there. My husband was previously a missionary in Northern Ireland and he really wants the opportunity to serve internationally again.

So, your site will serve two purposes for me – a resource for learning Spanish and an inspiration for my own dream of writing. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll be writing about my experience navigating the business world of a foreign country soon.

Wow. I’ve met quite a few people here in the US who have said great things about Nicaragua. I really hope it all works out for you and your family. Good on you for taking the step to leave your corporate job and pursue your calling.

If you ever need any help with anything as far as blogging goes, feel free to shoot me an email.

Recently, I discovered your site when googling for Syrian/ Levantine Arabic resources. I am currently studying MSA and Syrian Colloquial (the latter through ITalki) I love your passion for the Arabic language and all of its variaties. Unfortunately, in my country people wanting to learn Arabic don’t always get positive feedback. Keep up the great work! My native language is Dutch.

Hi Donovan,
I totally agree with Mindy above: wonderful that your first fact is your faith in Christ! I suspected as much as I read down the blog post – just the way you put things 🙂 We have been Christians for many years (hubby and myself) and find ourselves at a crossroads facing the “what next” phase of life after retirement and near-retirement. We want to serve the Lord somewhere, and sense a great need to move from where we have been the past 20 years. After a really devastating year emotionally, we are taking a trip to Latin America, where I once aspired to be a missionary. We would love to consider the possibility of me working with autistic children (English or Spanish speaking) somewhere in Latin America, and so I am renewing my goal to really learn this language, and try out my skill in a few weeks from now – I have forgotten just about everything I ever learned (which wasn’t a lot in the first place) and am going to really try to get a lot of Spanish under my belt over the next few weeks. We are hoping and praying that perhaps, after all these years of wandering in the desert, that the time has come to leave Midian and set out under God’s call – we don’t want to waste our lives, or our retirement, as a certain pastor says. Thanks so much for the site – I look forward to exploring it further.

Thanks very much and sorry to hear you’ve had a tough year. I hope everything changes for you for the better and your trip gives you new clarity. Is there a particular place in Latin America that’s on your heart?

I enjoy your reviews and share your passion for languages! Outstanding, concise, frank…. In your opinion, which method(ie rosetta,pimsleur etc) is best overall? I speak german and some polish, but I intend to tackle either 1.) russian 2)persian 3.)arabic next. Your input would be extremely beneficial.
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While completing/procrastinating on my uni assignment, I looked for ‘best way to learn arabic’ and your site came up – thanks algorithm boffins at google! But more importantly, thank you, Donovan, for this website and sharing your story. It’s been so helpful and informative, and I can’t wait to read through it all. By learning and bringing attention to minority languages (amongst many others) you’re also helping to preserve significant parts of human culture; this can only be a good thing! It’s also interesting that you were monolingual till age 20 or so, that gives a lot of hope to adults learning new languages. So thanks for that too 🙂

What brought me here was a number of reasons: advice for the times when my children sometimes struggle switching languages when they come home from school (between English and Hungarian). I’m also trying to reestablish the Italian they once knew from our time living there.
My wonderful partner (who’s learnt French and German) would like to learn Hungarian and as a native speaker I’m concerned my help may be more hindrance so I’m looking for a better method with this difficult language (from what I’ve been told).

Lastly, I’m doing research on herbal medicines and many times I find Iran has the best science and medical evidence. I’d like to learn Arabic to travel there and conduct research myself, but I don’t know where to start with Arabic or which one is suitable for that area (Iran, Syria and Afghanistan for travel in better times when the people have peace and stability).
I’m hoping there might be a starting point which opens the door to that area of the world. I notice you mention Georgia which would be great! though again a completely new and unique language. I wonder if learning Georgian was easier for you as you knew Russian?

Though the big question I’d like to ask you is: what do you think is the single most important factor in learning a language? is it openness, confidence, determination, a willingness to make mistakes, daily practise, ‘an ear for languages’, being very intelligent, or something else?

Thank you for your time and best of luck with your amazing travels and work abroad 🙂
From a fellow Aussie and global citizen

Single most important factor when learning a language is in my opinion willingness to assimilate. In other words, not just saying ‘I want to learn Hungarian’ but rather ‘I want to become Hungarian’. I believe this mindset changes the way you approach the language and the people, and is a much more holisitic way to approach it (plus I believe it demonstrates respect toward the target language people and culture).

In my experience, people with an ‘assimilation attitude’ are exponentially better at learning languages than those without.

I didn’t know Russian when I studied Georgian. I learned it afterwards. It may have helped for sure with some words but overall they’re totally different.

Also Arabic won’t help you in Iran really. They speak Farsi. There are lots of borrowed expressions but if Iran/Afghanistan is where your heart is, learn Farsi first.

Donovan, I understand your view and why you take that view, but I disagree. The most important factor when learning a language is motivation. If you are motivated, you will learn. Motivation will provide the persistence and persistence will find a way.

Hi! College student with the idealistic view of wanting to change the world, to make it a little better. International relations is my major, but I am specializing in Non-profit organization. Planning on doing a study abroad within the next year, preferably working with Syrian Refugees. I’m always up for trying something new, and my main goal is to learn as much as I can so I am able help as many people as I can.

Your recommendation for the Arabic grammar was very good. Now I’ve looked at a lot of grammar but this filled all the holes those left so I don’t know if it would have been as good without the prior work. Also I think they use a little s shaped diacritic for the double damma which took a little figuring out since its different elsewhere. I’m going to follow your other recommendations. I’m using Pimsleur for verbal which is pretty good as far as it goes

Hello!
I, like you, wish that I learned a language when I was younger. Because of my family’s Spanish heritage, my mother wanted to teach me Spanish as a young child, but as little kids do, I refused. Then, when I was about nine or ten years old, I noticed that all my friends and their families spoke Spanish and suddenly I felt left out. I learned to speak a very rough Spanglish which was very helpful, but I didn’t feel like I spoke Spanish. Then, I seriously started to learn the language when I was about 13 and fell in love. I was conversationally fluent a few years later.
Speaking two languages opened up a new world for me, so when I started university, I decided I wanted to learn Arabic. I grew up in Minneapolis, USA which had a large Somalian population. Because Arabic was one of Somalia’s national languages and a very useful language as well, I thought why not. Columbia University has a very rigorous Arabic program and I was overwhelmed on the first day, but after using some of the resources on this site. Arabic became my favorite class. I decided to take two extra classes on the weekends with an Arabic tutoring program called NaTakallam, and I became a Middle Eastern Studies major.
My recommendation to anyone who wants to learn a language is that you should go big or go home! I spend three hours on Arabic every day, and I have made great strides in MSA and Levantine. Because I started learning Arabic at such a fast pace, I actually felt like the work I was doing was making a difference.
Thank you for this site and your reviews and recommendations! They have served me well, and I am now on my way to becoming trilingual because of this site!

I thoroughly enjoy your guide of resources for books on the Irish (Gaeilge) language. I want to learn the Ulster dialect but there’s not as many resources for it with audio. I have been currently using Buntús Cainte (books 1 & 2) even though it’s not in the Ulster dialect as well as a website called Easyirish.com (which is in the Ulster dialect) – that set up audio/pdf podcast lessons in a similar manner. I also like how they both have audio at a nice pace that I can comprehend. However, I wasn’t sure which resource/s to use next. Would you recommend to go with a Ulster dialect only book like ‘Irish on Your Own’ or ‘Enjoy Irish’? Or would it be better to go with a multi-dialect book like ‘Gaeilge gan Stró’ or ‘A Ghaeilge Bheo’ or other suggestions all together? I’ve also been listening to both traditional and non-traditional Gaeilge songs from TG Lurgan, TG4 and other individual artists, which helps too.

My own experience is that picking a good Irish is more important that finding one for the dialect you want to learn. Beginners (and even more advanced learners) often exaggerate the differences. The truth is, mutual comprehension is no problem. I speak Munster Irish (Corca Dhuibhne) and I have a friend speaking Ulster Irish (Gaoth Dobhair) – it’s not a problem at all. I started out with Learning Irish; it’s in Connacht Irish and it is VERY dry indeed, but also very efficient. There’s no other course that will give you the same detail. What I did, after using it, was to go to the Gaeltacht, both for holidays and later for working a few summers during my studies, and the switch from Connacht to Munster was more or less automatic. I have Ulster speaking friends who started out with the same book and made a similar transfer to Ulster Irish when living up there.

As you’ve already found, there are no real courses in Ulster Irish (most courses claiming to be are basically standard Irish with a small hint of Ulster Irish) so if I were you, I’d focus on picking the course you find the most helpful, regardless of dialect.

Hi there! I don’t know what to say, but I’ll just write some about me 🙂
My name is Jessica, I am from Indonesia and I’m 14. My first language is Indonesian of course, but I studied English at school and I can say I’m pretty good at it! I remember 8th grade was that miraculous time of my English’s growth.

I remember that at the 4th grade I can’t even remember the formulas of tenses but suddenly I don’t have to remember them :/ I just remember example sentences, hehe.

I love languages, and I am currently learning Japanese at school, and study a little of it myself through a game in Japanese and talking with a Japanese (who doesn’t know English so I had to ask him to not use kanji ;-;), and also I wanted to learn Vietnamese but lost motivation for it, and I also learn Norwegian! I’m happy I have 2 Norwegian friends and they love to help me too ^-^

Absolutely love your site, language lover as I am, and very glad to have come across it. I enjoyed reading your reviews of many different language resources, and found it interesting that our experiences are very different. In stark contrast to your experiences, I’ve found a “heavy” grammar focus to be very helpful when learning new languages, and I also tend to find courses with lots of translation exercises far more efficient than other courses. I’m not claiming this as a general truth for all language learners, of course, but that’s the approach that has worked best for me. Today, I speak fluent English, Swedish, French and Italian (able to write and publish academic research in these languages), I’m conversational in German, Irish Gaelic, Finnish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh (able to carry out normal conversations in these languages, though not at an academic level), and I get by in Russian, Croatian and Persian. It goes without saying that I didn’t reach fluency in any language just through grammar and translations – but they did help me to get to the stage where I could start speaking on a daily basis, albeit with mistakes and an initially limited vocabulary. So while I’m sure many learners have different experiences, I do believe there is at least something to be said for grammar and translating 🙂

I just discovered your site, it’s so well put together and hopefully will be a great resource for me going forward. As a language lover and aspiring translator, I see myself at the start of journey similar to yours at 20 years old. However my path is leading me to the Romance languages; I’m trying to learn French, Spanish (both of which I speak fluently), Portuguese, Italian and Catalan all at the same time. I’m currently on the year abroad of my undergraduate degree doing a translation internship in Seville for six months, and in March I’ll move on to Paris for another six months. Though I would love to be a translator in the future as it’s something I’m very passionate about and I think I definitely have a gift for it, I’m also fascinated by linguistics. I hope I can combine the two passions in a similar way that you’ve done, and I definitely take inspiration from your story. Helping to raise awareness and conserve endangered and dying languages would be a rewarding and challenging endeavour, and hopefully something that would be possible in Western Europe given the myriad of Romance dialects, some of which are on the verge of disappearance.
I also dream of bringing the wonders of Romance languages over to Australia and helping the Aussies love language just as much as I do. I was lucky enough to spend five months on a student exchange last year in Sydney and I totally fell head over heels in love with the place. I would love to return sooner rather than later and would hope my Eurocentric plans wouldn’t prevent me from spending some time there too.
Just thought I’d say thanks for showing me that you can never be too ambitious when it comes to languages and linguistics. I really hope to make a difference somehow using my gift of language, but I don’t know how just yet!

Shalom Aleichem Wolf! I also speak Hebrew, I’m also trying to learn Yiddish and Russian, and I also learn languages as a hobby. I don’t want to put my info here for the world to know, but maybe Donovan can hook the two of us up – would you like that?

Hello Donovan,
I was doing some research on the web when I came across your webpage and read the information regards to your lifestyle and how you have achieved such a great living. I am from Australia Melbourne and I live in Turkey it has been a year and a half. My background is Turkish but I do speak English having been born in Australia. I speak fluent Turkish and have been trying to find something interesting that involves using both languages and I suggest becoming a translator\interpreter. I studied Italian in school since it was only language that was taught and I considered on learning more but never really got around to doing it since I’ve been improving my Turkish by speaking, writing and reading.
I recall that you learnt a little bit of Turkish and there are different dialects that are involved within the language. Turkish language is a fun language to learn.

It was so nice to find that one of the languages you’d like to learn soon is Lithuanian. I am Lithuanian native speaker. Lithuanian retains many archaic features found only in ancient languages. Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to Lithuanians.
I enjoy reading your site.

As an Esperantist, your comments about the language interested me. Yes, Esperantists tend to be liberal or leftist, to be internationalists and not patriots, and hopelessly idealistic when it comes to peace. But they claim to be politically neutral, except for the SAT Esperanto organization. After I retired, I learned Esperanto as a hobby, and because of Esperanto I have travelled to China, Lithuania, Italy, France, Netherlands, and have met thousands of “brothers and sisters” without them feeling inferior because of my English superiority, or me feeling awkward or guilty because I didn’t master their language. I am fluent in Spanish, and feel a kinship with Hispanics, although I am always aware that I am not really a Mexican, a Puerto Rican, or a Spaniard. Besides, I don’t look like a typical hispano. With an Esperantist, that feeling of ethnicity, of not belonging disappears. I see a valued person, just as I am valued. As you do, I love languages. I speak American English, Spanish, German, Esperanto, and French in that order, and bits of other languages. I get the sense that your love of Arabic and mine of Esperanto are roughly equivalent. By the way, no Esperantist today sees the language as rivaling English as “the” universal language, but as a way of protecting minority language rights. (can linguistic justice ever exist?)

I am a Norwegian, thus I understand and speak Norwegian fluently. I do understand Danish and Swedish as well, naturally. Furthermore, I have been learning English for the past 13 years in school, and French for 6 years. I hope to become fluent in English and French, and possibly learn Spanish, Arabic, Persian, Hindi or Urdu in the future 🙂

Hi Donovan,
please i have a dissertation and i’m lost in a subtitle which is caracteristics of speaking performance “fluency, accuracy: grammar, vocabulary, and pronounciation”. So, please can you explain it for me!

Hello Donovan
With your surname I’m guessing you have a South African or Dutch root somewhere?! I’m presently looking for an online/home tutor programme to learn Zulu – but there’s nothing in the “traditional” offerings (Babbel, Rosetta Stone, Rocket). Not even iTalki has any tutors! Can you give some guidance?

Hi Donovan: I came across your site purely by accident. I have always been fascinated by Australia and the Australian language, which led me, very recently, to The Dr. Blake Mysteries on Netflix. I love to hear Craig McLachlan speak! After watching three episodes, I Googled for more information about the Cockney influence on Australian English – I have known about that for years – and there you were! I live in the beautiful state of Michigan, and am a first generation American; my parents immigrated from Hungary long ago, and although they spoke Hungarian with relatives, they did not teach the language to their children. I learned, in a linguistics class at the University of Michigan, that the Hungarian language is quite difficult to learn, and that it is not Slavic, but is related to Finnish, as you probably know. Netflix has lots of Australian movies and series, and I plan to watch them all. Your text about the three primary influences on Australian English was fascinating! I choose not to be on any social networks, but I will read your blogs. Like you, I love language, and would like to learn French someday. My daughter was a French minor at UM, so I know quite a few words in the French language. It’s interesting that you are drawn to Arabic – we have a fairly large Arab community in the area where I live. Thank you for one of the few interesting blogs around! See ya.

Hi Donovan: Thanks for responding. I have a question for you: why is the accent of Paul Hogan so different from that of Craig M. of “Dr. Blake Mysteries?” Both seem to say some of their vowels with a distinct Cockney influence, but Hogan’s is more pronounced. Then, again, Hugh Jackman’s is similar but not like Hogan’s. I read once that the Australian language is one of the few wherein speakers sound the same from coast to coast. Is this true? Thanks.

I saw your website interesting when i was googling about learning a foreign language as a career but got in sync with the idea that goes in the process of having a flair for learning a new words gradually to knowing a second language after English which can come in handy in future although working in IT profession. Hope to become fluent in at least one foreign language.

Hi Donovan,
I’ve always loved languages. In Finland where I’m from you need to learn at least 2 in school. One would be Swedish, which is the other official language (or Finnish, if you are going to Swedish speaking school). For most the other one is English. Because I’m a bit of a language geek, I also studied French and Russian and a bit of Spanish. After high school I studied more of these in business school + a bit of German. And later Japanese also. I learned English really well when I was in US as an exchange student in high school. I also lived a year in Russia and at the time I could converse comfortably in Russian but now I have forgotten a lot and I’m out of practice. I can speak somewhat comfortably in French after living there 3 years (I was doing my PhD in English, which took a lot of energy from the language learning) and now I’m a postdoc in Germany and would like to learn more German. I actually understand quite a lot, German is very similar to Swedish after all, but I can’t really speak that much. The problem also being that my job requires quite a lot of learning and I don’t really have much energy for anything extra. After being thought languages in school, I find most language courses somewhat inefficient and frustrating. On the other hand, learning on your own can also be difficult, because you choose to do something else… Anyway, hoping to learn new hints on what to do from your site 🙂

Good evening. I from Brazil and I had my first contact with your blog today. I’m 64 years old and I’m trying learn to speak English. I studied English when I was at school and I had to stop when I began the university. So, about 40 years after I decided study it again. I have several difficulties mainly in listening. I get read more or less. I hope that I can speak English fluently and to do this , I’m looking for listening more, read and write too.

I’m a college student from the US, although I am currently completing an internship this summer in Cork, Ireland 🙂

Next year I would love to complete an immersion experience to study Arabic, although after reading your article on learning a dialect rather than MSA first, I have to say I feel a bit overwhelmed at choosing where to study. While I would love to study the Egyptian dialect, my university only allows scholarships/grants to be used in countries not on the US Department of State’s travel warning list (https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings.html). Thus, I am contemplating studying in Rabat, Morocco (http://www.qalamcenter.com/). I hesitate only because 1) my Lebanese friend has warned me that the Moroccan dialect will not be understood much outside of Morocco, and 2) if I study only MSA in Morocco rather than a dialect, I will have a hard time communicating verbally with people both back home and when traveling.

I’d greatly appreciate any thoughts you have on the matter! I am looking forward to exploring your website as well.

Whatever you decide to do, it should be based on what you are interested in, not what other people or the government restrict you to. With Moroccan, you’ll find yourself quite limited in conversations in most other parts of the Arab world.

Jackie,
I spent a month in Rabat learning MSA, and it was definitely a helpful experience. Be warned that if you are white, then people will try to speak to you in French. However, on the whole, I was delighted with the adventure. I’ve heard that Amman is also a good place to go for a more central experience.

I love your story and how amazing and romantic (? I don’t know if it was but to me it is) you just met your half ! I mean how incredible that you both connected through languages.

Who am I ?

I am Himeyuki (or Yuki for short). I was born in France. During my school time I learned English and now live in the United Kingdom. Beside learning English, at 15 years old I started to learn Japanese and became fluent. So now I am proud to talk fluently English, French and Japanese!
I am also a singer in Visual kei (a special Japanese rock style).

Why did I join this guild ?

Well, I want to learn Korean and I sensed I could do it through the guild !

I am really excited to find someone who has that passion towards language!

I am Mai from Egypt. I graduated as a physician five years ago and had some post-graduates studies done too in the same field, but I always knew that I don’t fit inside a hospital!

A year ago I decided to follow my instinct and go for language studies. I have always been a fast language learner and always thought I would be much happier in that field.

Anyway, I learned a lot last year and keeping the same track, I have learned practical and comparative linguistics and currently having a freelance job of teaching Arabic for non-natives.

I actually came here because I was googling for new methods for my students, but now I am here for myself 🙂

I am currently studying Italian and Spanish, I have never been to a non-Arabic country but I might have a chance to be in Sweden next year so I should get prepared, but I still find the Swedish language intimidating.

I think I would try to learn new languges as long as I am capable of learning 🙂

It’s very nice to see your site, your picture with your wife is so nice and I wish you a happy life together.

Thanks for all of your efforts Donovan, I really appreciate what you are doing.

Dear Donovan,
This is a great site, clearly a labor of love. I myself am a former military linguist in Arabic, but I don’t use the language professionally anymore. As a hobby, I transcribe and translate Arabic videos from YouTube about economic/financial topics. I like the idea of turning my translations into a blog but I don’t know what the legal issues would be, since I have no right to the original content. What do you think?
-Tim

Hi. My name is Hiba, I’m from Morocco and I’m 17 yo. I actually speak three languages(arabic, french, english) so I’m trying to learn my forth one: Korean. The first reason why I wanna learn Korean is that I love Korea (culture, drama, pop…) so I’m trying to learn the language so I can communicate whith korean people while visiting korea. The second reason is that I like the language because of its pronounciation (so cute😊) and the writing is so beautiful. Third, I love languages and learning them so I wanted to learn another one and I couldn’t find better than Korean espacially cuz love it so that what push more and encourage me to learn this beautiful language.

Just read your article about grammar and it was really insightful. I’ve just returned from a holiday in Turkey and have decided to give learning Turkish a go. The guy who taught me reckoned I had good pronunciation and seemed impressed!
The grammar aspect of learning a language does scare me though and almost makes me want to give up because I think how will I ever learn all that.
I also visited Greece last year and loved picking up words and phrases from the locals in Greek. I do seem to be able to grasp pronunciation quite easily in some languages. I believe though the best way would be to live in the country where you are learning that language (not always possible!) I grew up in Zimbabwe and was able to talk quite well in a local African language Shona just by listening and talking with locals.
Here’s to the learning….!

Hello Donovan,
I am a mother of a soon-to-be senior in high school who has not had any foreign language classes. He decided six-year his junior year that he wanted to be home educated for a more flexible schedule and for less having to deal with all the drama of a public school teen scene. (We are also Christians).
I came across your review on Rocket language courses. I am hoping the 2017 version will be a good choice for us.
Do you know how we should determine how much of it is equivalent to the amount of material taught in a level one high school course?

Also, since he did not have any Spanish course yet (a long story, as most US public school kids have Spanish classes), I had planned to purchase a level of Spanish, but he just informed me that he wants to learn Italian.

He is half Italian by blood/ancestry and hopes to travel there to live for a year. His dad and grandparents are Italian American but do not speak the Italian language fluently.
What are your thoughts on this?
Should I let him skip Spanish and take Italian? Is Rocket the best choice for that? (BTW, I am not Spanish despite my name, Juanita).

Hello,
I realize that you are a very experienced Arabic learner. I am a young student in the U.S. and there are many Syrian refugees in my nearby city and I want to help them, first by learning Arabic. What dialect do you reccomend I learn first? I have also heard that Modern Standard Arabic is not used anywhere?? I am utterly confused and need your help as to where to start. What dialect do you suggest I learn first? Also, are there any tips you have for an extreme beginner studying solely independently?

Hello there,
I have just read your comment by chance. Anyways, I am an Arabic native speaker, I may help you. If you are willing to learn Arabic, you’ll just have to reply on my comment and let me know.

Hi there,
I am Turkish and in love with Greek language and i have been trying to learn it myself for a month.At times it brings me to such certain points that i wanna rip my hair-lol-(thats a turklish saying now :P),can you recommend me anything /any source to make it easier for me…thank you

I very much like the idea of learning a Native American or Australian aboriginal language too. They are often very interesting languages, very different from those coming from other continents. I have read some linguistics books by R.M.W. Dixon on Australian languages. The second option you could learn while in immersion in your home country.

Hey Donovan.
I have no words to describe how much enchanted I am with your blog. I am Brazilian, fluent in English, but I wish I was able to learn an additional 4 languages. I learned English by myself, only took a private course to get a degree.
I think there should be a global language community with a scientific body that could provide us all with material and instructions in order to reduce the difference of languages around the world. I find the Education in Brazil appalling, awful. The entire federal school system lacks order. Students come out of school illiterate in their own language. There should be a global program focusing on leveling the distance between students abilities. After that, those who implemented these educational policies would have formed an international corridor of people that could live between these societies without a problem. There should be a force, someone, a body, promoting these ideas and working for the implementation. Within 50 years the distance of abilities would be a thing of the past.

On another issue, I do have a belief that languages of the past should be preserved, but I am not dying if some come to disappear . It is part of life. Things change. As I am looking forward to learn Arabic, I have been trying to understand the several types of Arabic that there are all around the world, and I do believe that some institution should partner with governments and work to unify languages inside their own languages. On this terms, I can’t stop thinking of the deeply divided India.

As a Portuguese speaker, I do have an excellent overview of the language. I could go to Portugal or some countries in Africa and talk to them clearly with no problem. I can travel to some Spanish-speaker countries and live off pretty well. At this point I understand that Portuguese and Spanish are very close to each other. But I deeply wish I had a better overview of other languages, a map of how close and distant they are to each other. Specially on Arabic and some Cyrillic alphabets. Russia and its satellites, I know nothing. This is one more thing that we lack comprehension.

Great blog!
well, I ended up here after I had read your comment on another person’s blog. The later was about learning korean. I am taking korean classes for the present time. I have been struggling; my teacher only speaks Korean. So, I thought I may get use of someone else’s experiences and thoughts. I am trying to keep on learning Japanese as well; which made it even harder. Nevertheless, I am focussing on learning korean now. By the way I am a graduate student. I am from Morocco, I;therefore, speak Moroccan Arabic, Standard Arabic, French, and English. English was my major by the way. As you may see, I am passionate about languges; and I would like to get to know people, like yourself, and share with them this passion!
Oh! I forgot the most important part, my name is Sana! I am glad that I had the chance to read about your journy in life. And, nice meeting you Nagel!

Wow. This blog is really cool, mate! The reason I found it is because I am a first year student in college (Tulane University) and taking a language is mandatory at my school. English is my first language, and I’m also fluent in Spanish. I am also an Orthodox Jew, so naturally I can read Biblical Hebrew. As I want to major in international relations and since I travel to Israel often, I thought I would learn Arabic. But it’s been quite hard for me. I don’t put in enough time or dedication, and I study four days a week for about an hour and a half. I just can’t seem to memorize vocabulary or master the alphabet. Any advice?

I am in Mexico for about 8 weeks of Spanish, starting at pretty much zero. I have completed six weeks. Before, at school I studied French and German and have maintained pretty basic skills in both but they get rusty. This experience with Spanish has led me to think carefully about how to learn a language. There appears to be a golden rule of sustained (over many weeks) of classroom learning, plus casual immersion (little English spoken here in Guanajuato), complementary work using internet tools, and then very interesting passages of relaxation, which for me includes reading poetry in English. I read your posting on Pimsleur and want to read more of your posting. Regards, Peter Rousmaniere

Hello Donovan,
Very inspiring story. I am interested in learning multiple languages. I have started with German, using Teach Yourself Complete. I am hoping to reach the point where I can have a conversation at an Advanced Level. I am just seeking advice as to the path to take-there is a bewildering amount of resources out there, and unsure of the path to take.
Keep up the good work.
God bless you

Like you, I am interested in learning Arabic, I literally just started a couple minutes ago and came across your website. I have chosen to learn the Levantine Arabic, there are so many questions I have right now. Like if I choose to speak Levantine Arabic then how do i learn to write it? is there an easy way to learn without spending money? etc

I am kumar,currently residing in chennai,india.I am 58 years old, and a non-practising lawyer and currently working in Govt. department.I have studied russian language long back from an indian university and at present studying chinese.I find chinese very hard ,especially writing and remembering characters and also memorising tones.I learn that u have studied and mastered chinese.I would like to know what is the methodology u have adopted to gain mastery over the language.Also by studying russian ,will there be any use in securing jobs,either in india or abroad.If so,what are the type of jobs which will be offered to a person knowing foreign languages. I am planning to learn french also.Kindly reply.

My name is Vladislav.I’m a 34-year old Russian engineer living in Russia and travelling with a family when there’s a chance.I’m a big language fan.Sometimes I feel like I would learn them all if I could.
Once I tried to start learning 36 languages simultaneously.Actually I’ve combined them into 6 cycles as follow 6 langs per day, i.e. 6*6=36. But eventually I found this approach to be ineffective,so currently I’m learning 6 langs in total:

– English(keep on improving it,hope to pass a TOEFL or IELTS one day);

– Italian(I’m quite good at it,btw,I’ve passed Pimsleur,Berlitz,now I’m follwing another course and hope I’ll be able to watch some Italian movies with subtitles soon where Celentano starred. I already used it successfully when I went to Rome.I was also very appreciated when used it working with Italians);

– French (still following Pimsleur used to practiced it when worked with the French);

– Spanish (still following Pimsleur but used it successfully when visited Dominicana and Texas);

– Arabic (I’ve nearly completed Pimsleur MSA and also practiced it when worked in Middle East);

– Chinese (the hardest one I’ve exposed by now,btw,native mentor is a must here to pick up tones properly).

But my linguistic appetite is starving to expand this list,though:-) Btw, I’ve found your blog while surfing web on Georgian.The thing is I have an interest to visit Georgia and would like to pick up its alphabet and at least some general expressions,but the more the better.

As for langs,I’ve experienced a lot in my life that when you know at least something in a native language of your co-worker,colleague,pal,mate or just a person passing by you will get extra appreciated from their side.Obviously languages help set up good relations at work,as well.Once a person realizes you’re interested in his/her mother tongue, since that moment you’re no longer just some alien to him/her, you will definitely get a respect,for sure.

I wish everybody to learn,learn and learn.There are only advantages in learning languages,and they are not limited with brain and memory training against dimensia.When you know more about language,culture,history,mentality of other nations the chances are higher you’re gonna start to understand them, to understand what they say,what they want, why they act so and so in some situations and,therefore,you melt the ice,i.e. you will get closer to them and won’t be afraid of them ’cause people tend to be afraid of those they don’t understand or don’t know like something weird.
So,let’s crash the barriers and make this world a better place to live for all of us! I mean it!

my name is IDDRISU AMADU
Iam a teacher at a basic school in Ghana and I am interested in learning the Arabic language. I will like to benefit from you outfit having learn Arabic alphabets from my Arabic basic school where I learn Arabic reading with the HOLLY QURAN.
I wish to minimize time out my schedules to learn Arabic language reading without the enablers.Please help me.

Hi! My name is Gina and I accidentally found your site as I did a little research on “chunking” for my Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages class. I’ve always loved languages. I am fluent in Spanish (my native tongue) and English. I can speak French and German but not fluently (yet), and am currently learning Russian and Ancient Greek. I plan to learn Portuguese and Italian. Arabic attracts me but also intimidates me with all the different “h” sounds that I don’t seem to hear.
I love your approach to learning languages! I’ve have stumbled on my own into some of the techniques you mention in blog. You are an inspiration! 🙂

My name is Veronica, and I’m so pleased to read your blogs on the different kind of jobs a Language learner can do!!! I’m 18 years old and my dream is to study Japanese and Korean at my university! But I honestly, didn’t knew exactly what to do after I acquire such skills.

Also thanks for opening my eyes with the “Mainstream Languages” that you talked about in one of your blogs like (French and Italian or German) because my Dad is always telling me that I HAD to learn the most used Languages before I learn what I really wanted (Japanese and Korean).

Again thank you so much for your tips and sharing your life experiences!! It really helped me A LOT!!! (Oh! I also wanted to tell you that currently I speak Spanish and of course English; Spanish being my native language!)

Donovan,
Your interview with Michael Campbell from Glossika is very interesting. If we believe that a foreign language is an information to be remembered then Glossika Spaced Repetition (GSR) is a great innovation to the system that was introduced by Pimsleur in 1973.

However, if you believe that Training English skills subconsciously is a better alternative to the conscious passive learning and memorization, then GSR is not applicable anymore!

If you want to learn more about this patented process of subconscious Training English skills, write to me.

Hi
I am an old Kerryman who used to speak Irish fluently as a boy.
Now that my epitaph is creeping closer I am considering re-establishing some ability to speak gaelic again.
I may be deluding myself so please see this as a cursory enquiry/ interest.